The Pacific Buddhist Academy is pleased to recognize Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC) as an inspirational organization working in our community. The October 21st “Lighting Our Way” event acknowledges individuals and organizations that are lighting our way in the community and exemplify the leadership values taught at the Pacific Buddhist Academy High School.

One vital aspect of the experience is the student interaction with each of the honorees. Starting in 2010, under the direction of Mr. Josh Hernandez Morse, Assistant Head of School, senior students work as teams to interview the honorees. The students create lines of questioning, meet the honorees for the dialogue and then transcribe the interviews that become the raw materials of actual event program. It is a positive opportunity for the students to expand their writing skills, work as a team as well as make an authentic connection with the honorees.

Below is an excerpt written by Pacific Buddhist Academy seniors Andrew Tom, Briannah Cadiz, Herman Kwan and Lindsey Higa. The students were invited out to Waianae to tour the campus and learn more about the wide range of services the organization provides. They were warmly greeted by Dr. Ricardo Custodio and Ms. Marianne Glushenko.

It began with a group of people like you and me responding to a set of community problems: domestic violence, teen pregnancy, poverty, a lack of health care. These conditions produced the motive for the creation and evolution of the Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center (WCCHC). Members of the community organized in 1969 as a small task force to tackle the health issues of the coast; in 1972, with the support of the Hawaii State Legislature, the first facility opened its doors with the mission to make complete comprehensive health and human services available to all residents of the Waianae District.

Their mission, however, could not be complete without taking into account the spiritual health of the culturally diverse Waianae residents. Thus, the WCCHC offers not only western medicine but traditional Hawaiian medicine as well. Patients choose their health modality – a vital offering in a community whose majority is of Native Hawaiian descent.

When we visited the center for an interview, the close-knit relationships between patients and staff were evident. The place did not feel like a clinic – it felt like a place of healing with family and friends, complete with beautiful art lining the walls, the expanse of ocean before us, and the attention to living flora in the galleries. We felt the vitality of a community long tended by its own people, using means passed down through the generations.

The Pacific Buddhist Academy is honored to recognize Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center. The event’s title sponsor is the Bank of Hawaii Foundation. It will be held Friday, October 21, 2011 at the Waialae Country Club. The Honolulu high school’s mission is to develop smart, creative young leaders who contribute directly to peace. This event will raise funds to support the school’s unique college preparatory program.